"I like a good story, well told. That is the reason I am sometimes forced to tell them myself." - Mark Twain

Sunday, July 2, 2017

WallyWorld Weekend Maths

Nice try, but thanks for playing.

The other day, I noticed this post.So I went over to Wallyworld, to see what that'd cost if you did it.(I do the shopping math, so you don't have to!)First, the list, with my price tally over on the left side. Afterwards, the analysis.The List

1. Head to the nearest Wal-Mart and pick-up 20 lbs. of white or brown rice (white rice stores longer but brown rice is more nutritious) and 20 lbs. of pinto beans. White rice has a better storage life while brown rice has more nutritional benefits – your choice.

3. Now head over to the canned foods and pick-up 20 cans of canned fruits and 20 cans of canned vegetables. Be sure to buy only those brands and contents you normally eat and nothing exotic. No need to shock the senses.

fruit $29.60veggies $19.60

4. Now over to the canned meats. Pick-up 20 cans of various meats, salmon, stews, spam and tuna. Again buy only those brands with contents you normally eat and nothing exotic.

meat $7.12salmon $15.12stew $9.76Spam $10.56tuna $4.00

5.Okay. Now to the to the peanut butter shelf and toss two 40-ounce jars in the cart. The listed shelf life is just over two years and each jar has over 6,000 calories. Peanut butter is an excellent instant survival food.

7. Off to the vitamin and supplement aisle, pick up 400 tablets “one a day” multivitamin and mineral supplements. I buy this brand at the local Wal-Mart – comes in 200 count bottle for $8 each.

vitamins $15.48

8.Now to the department we all love – sporting goods. Go to the camping aisle and pick up 4 five gallon water containers. Fill with tap water as soon as you get back home.

jugs $51.88

9. While you’re there buy 250 rounds of ammunition for your primary defensive weapon. More if you can, but this will be a good start. Also a good universal cleaning kit.

ammo $95.49kit $34.97

10. And while you’re in the sporting good department pick up the best flashlight you can afford, extra batteries and bulb. Also, grab two boxes of wooden matches and several multi-purpose lighters. Don’t forget to date, use and rotate – remember first in first out. Let’s get started. What would you add to the list?

3D Maglite $49.97matches $3.96lighters $1.97

11. Go to back the grocery department and pick up 5 lbs of powdered milk or the equivalent of canned, now go over to the next aisles and throw in 5 lbs of rolled oats and a case of Ramen noodles. Ramen noodles aren’t the most nutritional food but they are cheap, add bulk to the diet and store well – just don’t rely on them to provide all your nutritional needs. And don’t forget a good manual can opener.

milk $21.94oats didn't haveramen $4.36can opener $6.97

12. While you’re in the grocery department be sure to pick up an assortment of spices to taste, such as Basil, Chili powder, Cinnamon, Garlic, Sage, Marjoram, Oregano, Rosemary, Thyme and Black Pepper. Spices can go along way toward making unfamiliar foods palatable. Also, while you’re in that area add 5 or more lbs of salt to your shopping cart, as you know salt has 101 uses.

spices $22.845# salt $4.20

13. Okay, counting what you bought during our first trip to the shopping center, that should do it for the grocery. Now go over to the area near the pharmacy and pick up 3 large tubes of toothpaste, 3 brushes, 100 double edge razor blades, (note: if you don’t have a razor you’ll probably have to order one from Amazon.com and don’t forget a brush and bowl), I’ve used this type razor for years and think it is a cheaper long-term solution than disposable.

toothpaste $4.96brushes $2.77razors $199.70

14. While you’re there, add the most comprehensive first-aid kit that you can find to your cart and don’t forget over the counter pain meds (Tylenol, aspirin etc.). If you’re a woman (or have one in your life) go over a few shelves and pick up enough “feminine” supplies to last three months or longer.

FA $24.44aspirin $3.64Tylenol $9.47Motrin $13.94

15. With all that food in your pantry its only a matter of time before you have to poop. I know, its shocking but we all do it. If you have a water source such as a stream or lake nearby you can still use the toilet in your bathroom, all you have to do is manually fill the tank in back and flush as usual. If this isn’t an option, you’ll need to look for other alternatives such as the Portable Toilets sold in the sporting goods department or making a sawdust toilet from a five-gallon bucket.

toilet $29.63

16. What’s next? You guessed it toilet paper. If you poop you need to wipe, if not you probably need to start. You could use a corncob, cloth, Roman sponge on a stick or paper from discarded books or newspapers but I would wager most of you prefer the softness of Angle Soft. Get enough to last at least a month, more if possible and remember women need more than men so plan accordingly.

TP $16.98

17. While you are in that area of the store pick up a supply of disposable plates, bowls and plastic utensils. Don’t go overboard here but having a small stockpile of these items on hand can save a lot of water that would otherwise be used to wash dishes. Also add two or more gallons of regular, unscented bleach to your cart.

plates $6.77bowls $4.84utensils $8.97bleach $7.96

18. This is a biggie and can’t be done (legally) at the department store pharmacy without the signature of a doctor – that is stocking up on prescription meds. Getting more than a 30 day supply, at least in the U.S., can be difficult if not impossible. But there are ways to get most of what you need for long-term survival. See this post and this one and this book (note: some of the information in the book is dated but there is still good advice to be found).

Rx meds $10

19. Now push your cart (man this thing is getting heavy) over to the hardware department of the store and pick up a carpenters hammer, vise grips, adjustable wrench, screw driver set, duct tape, electrical tape, axe, pry bar, crosscut saw, hacksaw and large can of WD-40. This is your bare minimum survival tool kit.

tools $109.98

20. After you get your tool kit, go over to sporting goods and in the camping supply aisle pick up a propane camp stove and 5 or more 1 pound propane cylinders or a bulk 20 lb tank and hose adaptor – yes the pressure in the small bottles is the same as a 20 lb cylinder or even 100 lb tank, just be sure to get the proper adapter and hose assembly. Another alternative and the one I prefer is the Volcano Stove because I can use propane, wood and charcoal.

stove $42.88propane $17.35hose $15.67Volcano stove - didn't have

21. Okay, we are just about done – only a few more steps you’ll be out the door and heading home. You’ll need a way to keep in touch with your group so go to the electronics department and pick up the best two-way radios that you can afford – I have these. Don’t forget a battery-powered radio and extra batteries for both. While not necessary, I prefer a radio capable of receiving AM/FM and shortwave broadcasts – I have this one.

FRS walkie talkies $79.00radio $35.00Total cost: $1167.26, + taxThe GoodThere is nothing on this list that's a bad idea, per se. It's all useful and handy stuff, and you should have it, or something like it.The BadThis is, at most, food for one for about a month.If you tried to tote it all out in one trip, you'd need three minions, because it would fill four full-sized shopping carts, and weigh about 700 pounds.That's a pick-up truck load.If you're shopping for two, three, four or more people, the costs and size tally would grow appreciably. Breakfast would be oats, fruit, maybe pancakes or biscuits, and Spam. Lunch would be any dinner leftovers, and dinner would be meat, rice or beans, and veggies.Spices help, but there's a lot of monotony there.Anyone that isn't either 18 and broke, or retarded, should have put the listed tool kit together before they graduated high school.The UglyThis would be maybe what you'd need for a couple of weeks, after a flood, hurricane, earthquake, tornado, etc.For the Zombie Apocalypse, it's barely a decent running start, and in a month, you'd starve and die.And the list of things not on this list - that SHOULD be - would choke a cube van (and these things, too, are all readily available at WallyWorld):broth cubesteahoneycanned chiligrill toolscast iron fry pan cast iron dutch ovencandlesbatteries and more batteriessolar patio lightsbar soaplaundry soap5-gal bucketscanning bookcanning jarscanning lidsstock potfish hooksfishing linesinkersswivelsrat trapsseed packetsbird seedbag of onionsbag of potatoessunblockbug juicesewing needlespinsthread (by the pound)buttonsgrommets and setterleather punchparacordscissorsShoe gooplastic sheetingfiberglass screeningaluminum foilplastic wrapbaggiestrash bagstape measurelevelbolt cutterswire cutterswireglovessafety glassesreading glassessun glasseswater purification tabletsmagnesium blockfire starter sparkercompassspace blanketwater bottle/canteensleeping bagtarpstentfixed blade knifefolding knifemulti-toolfolding shovelpointed shovelround shovelsledge hammerwood axesplitting maulwedgeshard rakehoe4-tine cultivatormachetedigging barrubber hosesandbagsroad flares.22LR ammo (now that it isn't unobtanium)air rifle pelletsslingshot and ammoand on and on and on.That's just what I noticed walking around pricing the other stuff.Yeah, the post noted briefly this wasn't an inclusive list. So why package it as "The 21 Things..."?? Cut it down to three: (eat, sleep, poop), or else call it the "First (of 300) Things You Need...".If you want to use the original list, it's not bad. For some folks, it's a budget- and back-breaker. For a lot more, it's way too little.And no way in hell should you ever think this is something you could do last minute, without a family the size of the Brady Bunch, and smarter than the characters in The Big Bang Theory.Worst of all, a list of stuff is still just a List Of Stuff.Stuff won't save your life, knowledge + stuff will.And the best knowledge is that rather than slap-dashing your preps, and trying to pull them out of your ass at the last minute in a WallyWorld panic buying spree, work smarter:Break your preps into Systems, not Stuff. And rotate through each one on a regular basis.I.e., get all the water SYSTEM stuff at once, and have back-ups to back ups, e.g. bleach, water purification tablets, iron kettle for boiling, plastic sheeting for solar stills and rain catchment, water jugs and canteens, etc.Next day/week/month/whatever, work on your stored food system, then your personal protection system, shelter system, food obtaining system, communication system, cooking system, power system.Instead of buying 400 pounds of staples, try this: every week, buy an eighth day of canned food meals. Set it aside for tougher times. In a year's time, you'll have a 52-day food cushion, in cans that last from 3-5 years, if not far longer, and it'll be food you're already eating. Three years would give you six months back stock, which you could then rotate into use every week, and always have six months' food on hand. (Always feed your pantry first.)Plan something like 14 days' different meals, break down the cans required to make it, and buy all the cans and items for one of those meals every weekly shopping trip. A day's meals, even for a family, is maybe $10-15, tops, in canned goods. If you can't scrape that much out of your weekly budget, you're already in bare survival mode now.*EndnotesWallyWorld is regional. Commander Zero's store in MT stocks Mountain House #10 cans.Mine, no way in hell. One in MS or AL has cornmeal, or grits, or whatever. One in Chicongo or CO, not so much.Be aware of what you can (and can't) find in your area.Chili is a life support system. Not including it on the meats list was a major faux pas.Fish hooks and line will feed you just about everywhere on the planet.Rat traps baited with peanut butter and staked down with cable or sash chain will feed a family eating nothing but tree squirrels on most of the North American continent, indefinitely.Ditto bird seed used for pigeons, and a milk crate trap. Catch enough alive at once, build a dove cot, and you have a poor man's chicken ranch, and dove season is every week, no shells required. (Raising real chickens, and rabbits, would be even better.)The bag of onions and potatoes are to plant, not eat. You'll survive on those pretty much forever, if you have dirt, water, and sunlight. With pigeon or squirrel added to the potato and onion, it's a pretty fair stew. And rabbit pellets are decent fertilizer when you compost it. Which grows you more potatoes and onions.You could fit $100 worth of $0.20 seed packets into a cardboard banker file box, and they'd grow enough food for a small army for several years. After the fish hooks, line, and such, they're the second thing I'd grab in the apocalypse, if I wanted to eat next year and beyond. If you're really bright, you'd have sacks (or N2 or CO2-filled sealed canning jars) of the non-GMO non-hybrid heirloom varieties sitting around for that day, which would produce seeds endlessly, pretty much like they've done since Adam and Eve, or Thag and Og, depending on your personal beliefs.250 rounds of ammo? I can't even.Look at any mob you've ever seen.I don't want 250 rounds, I want 250 cases. And more in the truck.But if you're going to go that low, how's about 200 rounds for a rifle, and 50 for a pistol?Along with a few boxes of assorted 12 ga. and a brick of .22???Before I'd spend $30 for the flimsy toilet seat, I'd get a 4'x8' sheet of 3/4 plywood for about the same price, and one wooden toilet seat, cut and build a much sturdier toilet cube with lid, made the right height to slip a 5 gal. bucket inside, and have a solid toilet that I could close tight, that'd last longer, and keep the smell in and the flies out. I'd coat everything but the toilet seat, inside and out, with truck bed liner, and I could rinse or sponge wipe the whole thing any time I cared to, and seal the wood so nothing go into it, including splatter or splash.The toilet paper was $16.98 for 36 rolls, and 18.97 for 20 rolls. Really. (Manager's Special - for public school graduates, no doubt.) Caveat emptor.Gloves and safety glasses used during Tough Times will cut back drastically on using the First Aid kits. And you won't need nearly as many glass replacement eyes and prosthetic hooks and rubber fingers, when yours don't grow back.$200 for razor blades, but $25 for first aid? WTF???And also, you won't need to shave next spring, when you starve this winter.The "best first aid kit" available at WallyWorld, or anywhere else, is a small plastic Tub Of Shit. It's a half-fast solution for lazy people, with substandard supplies in sub-optimal quantities, and a waste for any real-world use, unless you're stocking a life raft for a party barge or a float platform for the pond. Probably not even then. (But other than that, Mrs. Lincoln, how was the play?)Build your own damned kit, better, bigger, and many times even cheaper. I think I've covered contents and training to use them a few times in the past. A first aid kit you didn't build is like a meal you didn't cook from eating out, because you don't know how to cook: an expensive luxury, added risks, and a sop to laziness.While pricing this, I found two different Eton emergency radios (AM/FM/weather) at WallyWorld on markdown, one with a hand charging crank for $35, and one without it for $5. I bought them both on the spot. A decent emergency battery-powered radio for $5? Hell, yes. This is also why I walk out a piece like this in real life: serendipity.

A pocket notebook to track everything is useful. Make entries religiously, check the entries just as religiously when you're in a store. A short pencil always beats a long memory.

Create a plan for obtaining the necessary items & equipment. A detailed plan which is budget based (both time budget and money budget). Follow the plan. Review the plan periodically, adjust if necessary.

The plan should include a "holy shit" emergency option, just in case you run out of time.

"Holy shit" emergency options are cash-dependent. Have some. More is better. Smaller bill denominations are much more betterer than bigger ones, there may not be opportunities to get change back.

Mind the sales: frequently a local grocery chain puts name brand veggies on sale at $1/can, usually a different big name brand each month. Sunday papers often have coupons, but just because there's a coupon doesn't mean it's a good deal.

Non-major chains (Aldi, Lidl) primarily carry their "house brands" which are much cheaper than large name brands (59 cents for chili w/beans at Lidl vs $1.25 for Hormel at Walmart).

Never leave a food market without at least 6-12 extra cans of food that are not planned as part of the upcoming week's menu. Consider your pantry as one additional member of the family that needs to be fed.

Protein is the most expensive stuff to buy, the most important stuff to have.

Eating lots of protein will cause constipation. Have the necessary resources to deal with it.

Canned food is the cheapest way of achieving food preps, also the heaviest. Canned food is cooked before canning so it can be eaten right from the can. That assumes you have utensils to eat with. Restaurant supply houses sell 1K boxes of plastic knives, forks, spoons very cheaply. 5 people splitting $40 of plasticware gets each 200 knives, 200 spoons, 200 forks.

Staples sells 25-packs of 12"X9"X9" cardboard boxes for $18.50, free shipping to store. It's the perfect size for holding 24 cans, plasticware can be dropped into the spaces between cans, P-38s and P-51s can be taped under the lid. 8 cans of protein (chili, hash, salmon, chicken, etc.), 8 cans of veggies (whatever you like), 8 cans of fruit (whatever you like, but fruit cocktail is pretty universally acceptable), some plasticware, some openers, maybe a Bic lighter and an AA or AAA penlight (leave the batteries out, taped together with painter's tape) make a 27 lb "grab 'n' go" Food Unit. A layer of Food Units on the bottom of the closet with a piece of plywood over them can provide a couple months of food.

Date your Food Unit boxes and include them in the FIFO can rotation.

Cans - veggies - have water in them that can be used for heating them in, saving your drinking water. Canned fruit includes juice (or syrup) that's drinkable, improving nutrition and easing the load on drinking water.

Canned food is good for at least 2-3 years beyond the "best if used by" date on the can. Still, cans need a FIFO storage arrangement.

Water. However much you have it's not enough. Drinking&cooking water is different from "utility" water (toilet flushing, bathing, clothes washing). Map swimming pools in your area and have a method of easily transporting large quantities. A 48" X 24" garden cart will hold 6-8 5-gallon buckets, which will weigh 45 lbs each if full.

A longer tongue bar (handle) on your garden cart will allow a larger cross bar which will allow two people to pull the cart.

If your garden cart has pneumatic tires, get a couple spare inner tubes and a pump. Or replace then with no-flat tires.

If you would have spent $200 for razors, you were looking at the wrong ones, or you should REALLY look into picking them up on Amazon. The ones he links in the article are similar to the ones I use. I spent $22.30 on a box of 100 of those higher-end double-bladed razors (NOT the twin-blade plastic nonsense), and that box should last me 2 years, even having to shave every day (because U.S. Army).

I switched to the old-school brush, soap, and bowl method, and have a total of $101.70 invested, to include soap, bowl, brush, replacement brush (because I left one on an RV-park shower-house sink, D'oh!), safety razor, holder, and blades. Time investment daily is no different than lathering with canned foam/gel, but I haven't spent a penny on any of it since last summer, and have enough blades to get me to next summer.

That said, division of the preps themselves, and how you think about prepping in general into systems is very sage advice. Water, food, shelter, clothing, probably in that order. You can make due living naked in your un-air-conditioned house with the windows & doors open much longer than you can go without food or water, so making sure the more important systems work and have redundancies is more pressing than ensuring you have buttons and thread. Not that long-term the buttons aren't a thing, but first things first. Also, if your readers are like the average American, they've probably got PLENTY of extra stuff hanging in their closets, and a known advantage in SHTF situations is that you're unlikely to need BIGGER clothes because you got fat. Just sayin.

I'm an individual who's fully prepped. Retired and built a retreat on 20 acres in the most desirable and sustainable retreat location I could think of outside of New Zealand which I couldn't afford.Fully prepped just means I'll get caught out buy whatever I didn't think of - like you will. Lots of factors went into the selection and your excellent article goes into all the other things necessary so I'll address a couple of things is doesn't go into. Most any serious emergency will preclude successfully bugging out. An unsuccessful bug out is called being a refugee. You might consider yourself smarter than the average bear and get ahead of the pack in which case you'll be a pissed off refugee stuck in traffic.You're unlikely to need more than a few magazines of ammo. Either you drop a few looters and the rest go away or they pump enough rounds through and through your cottage to ventilate you and yours. All of this of course will happen at O dark thirty when you've fallen asleep on watch. Stopping some imaginary zombie biker charge at high noon is bullshit.A .22 is a totally useless survival round, use a 12ga. This opinion is based on personal survival experience. If I knew how to write I'd post an article about it somewhere but yeah when it really counts use a shotgun. Modern pellet guns are as powerful as .22's and don't make much of a sound. Real important if all you're shooting is some lousy squirrel. Scoped crossbows are silent and amazingly powerful and accurate but the chances of finding a bolt after firing it is zero so ammo will be an issue.Forget the little bottles of butane or propane and get a 100# cylinder of propane and a cast iron single burner. Whatever thing you use in survival has to work extravagantly well. ALL of Wallymarts camping gear is shit and will do a half ass job. I'm a flashlight fanatic. Get a Big Larry work light by NEBO from Ace Hardware. You'll be amazed. They're under $20 so get one for the wife too.I'd add booze, coffee, cigarettes, gas to the supply list. Trade item if nothing else.

All I can add is that that was a great price on tuna. I'm going to have to look into that. I could write an entire blog myself about what we've done, etc., but one of he main things about prepping is that you don't let the world know you're a prepper. Our neighbors know, and they are too, and we're good.

Still, great tuna prices. I'll probably die of mercury poisoning if SHTF but I love tuna.

I have seen that list a few times and had issues with it.You did a good job of correcting some of the most glaring deficiencies, I still see some holes that need filling in yours too but I am not here to pick nits.I would just like to remind folks that sometimes the Dollar store can be a great and inexpensive resource for some items.Most of the ones around here have canned goods now and you can not beat their prices on certain first aid items like anti bacterial cremes, allergy pills, bandaids, rubbing alcohol, hydrogen peroxide and other such things.They have bottled water also and cheap plastic ware is one of their staple items.They often have candles there and those will be worth their weight in gold when all the batteries finally go dead.

Thanks for taking the time and effort to correct that list for people, the list of things people will need can seem endless but there are certain items you do not want to be caught without and now is the best time to get them, before the lights go out.

I'll just add that I've got plasticware stored with paper plates and bowls, and my food organized by meals, BUT I don't understand why people don't just go to goodwill and get metal silverware to store. Cheap restaurant flatware is sturdy and cheap. The stuff at goodwill and thrift stores tends to be the cheaper stuff anyway. Get solid metal, not plastic handled stuff, and see if it bends by hand. You can drop your new flatware in the boxes too, and be sustained that much longer.

For that matter, you can use your current flatware if you don't bug out....

@PhilI wasn't posting a list, or even my list (which would start to look like a ,Rawles survival book list in about 5 seconds); I was just exploring the out-the-door cost of what was suggested, while noting the same glaring deficiencies. As I said, the add-ons I noted were all stuff I saw sitting there which had been completely overlooked in that "must-have" list. No attempt was being made at comprehensiveness, just noting the things that were missing that I passed by while tallying up what was actually included.

The author's point, that good stuff can be had at WalMart, is well-taken; trying to cobble some of that (a partial supply cache at best) into "everything you need, right now" was where he went off the rails.

And I've already noted the bounty that can be had at the dollar store:http://raconteurreport.blogspot.com/2016/01/sunday-bonus-shopping-field-trip-2040.htmlhttp://raconteurreport.blogspot.com/2016/01/weekend-shopping-field-trip-dollar.htmlI, like you, am very partial to cans of food for less than a buck, vs. $3-5 at full retail at the supermarket, for the same slightly newer, version.

@ Anon at 1016 7/3 - RE: cheap restaurant flatware. If you have the clean water available to wash it, go for it. Don; forget washing also requires some surfactant (soap, which actually doesn't clean, but does reduce the surface tension of water so it will clean) and additional water to rinse the surfactant off. Plus some method of storing the flatware and keeping it clean in storage.

Failure to clean results - probably - in some sort of digestive issues, most of which accelerate dehydration, requiring more water to combat.

Paper plates and plasticware are disposable and combustible, which requires no water.

Checking back in, and yes, I do realize that you need to clean your flatware for reuse. So? Wipe it clean and quick wash. You're maintaining sanitation during your food prep, cleaning your pots, washing your hands before cooking, and washing the rest of your smelly xxx...self anyway, right?

Any kid who has gone to camp learns to clean his mess kit, and his flatware. My generation did anyway.

If you're not planning (and stacking) to maintain hygiene post-disaster, you're gonna have those same gastric issues.

I've got plastic and paper stacked, and have actually USED it post-disaster, during our recovery from Hurricane Ike. It's convenient. It's sanitary. And it's VERY TEMPORARY. Even the good stuff breaks easily. Any event longer than a few days with potential resupply from outside the area, and you need something a little more sturdy. And at that point, you really need to get your camp kitchen and sanitation up and running; at a minimum, your turkey frying pot and the propane gas ring for heating water. If possible, set up the whole kitchen- coleman stove, lantern, aquatainer, wash basin, fry pot, etc.

Move from "I need to survive the next few hours" to "let's get set up for the new (hopefully temporary) normal" as soon as you can.

nick

Oh, and thanks Aesop for taking the time to do the research. Any news from Hogwarts Med?

Shortly before Hogwarts went live, I lost both my job and my hard drive, and was off the internetz, and pounding the pavement looking for a gig.Both were annoying.

So rather than being one of three co-participants in Hogwarts, as envisioned, it died on the vine after a brief bout of the other two gents doing what they could/would.I even dropped it from my blog list after it stayed dormant for over a year since the last post.

My Blog List

About the Blog List

Not counting the news outlets or websites along the full range of accuracy and veracity, I follow 10 or so actual individuals' handwritten blogs. Looking them over, 8 of the 10 are current serving or former military and 4 of those 8 are some variation of high-speed low-drag elite forces ninjas. And 2 are cops.So in other words, the same folks I trusted in the military not to wet the bed, sh*t themselves, or otherwise run around like headless Nancys, are the same folks I trust on the interwebz, for demonstrating pretty much the same trustworthiness and circumspectly responsible behavior.Color me shocked.

Comments

Comments are appreciated. They require neither prior ID nor screening for content. Anonymous abusive or rude comments will be either mocked mercilessly, or simply deleted into the internet ether, solely at the blog owner's discretion. (That would be me.) If you somehow labor under the misapprehension that free speech applies everywhere, try this experiment: go to your next door neighbor's house, urinate and defecate on his living room floor, and call him a m*****f****** @$$hole, then see whether you receive an award from the ACLU, or an ambulance and police car, who stop momentarily to help collect your teeth. If you don't get this, you're too stupid to be on the Internet, let alone posting comments on my blog. Disagreement is one thing, even ignorance can be understandable, but rude @$$holery will not be tolerated here. I have neither the time nor inclination to imbue what a public K-12 failed to instill in those folks bereft of the ability to reason intelligently or behave like well-adapted human beings in polite society.That's why for you there's a Skid Row.